


Love Songs for Doctors

by Silent_So_Long



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Comment Fic, Community: jim_and_bones, Flash Fic, M/M, Musical Instruments, New Year's Resolutions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-28
Updated: 2011-12-28
Packaged: 2017-10-28 08:28:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/305893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silent_So_Long/pseuds/Silent_So_Long
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim has a surprising new hobby.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Songs for Doctors

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [Flash Challenge: Resolutions](http://jim-and-bones.livejournal.com/538352.html) held by the jim_and_bones community and secretsolitaire’s prompt of Jim: To learn to play a musical instrument.

“Damn, this really hurts,” Jim said, staring down at his bleeding fingertips, muscles in every finger cramped and aching.

Leonard looked down at the fresh wounds upon Jim’s hands with growing consternation; in all his years of practicing medicine and looking after people, he rarely ever saw wounds such as the ones Jim sported. The only time that he had seen something like that was when he was a young boy back in Georgia. He lifted one of Jim’s hands, curiously staring at the ends of Jim’s fingers. Across the pads of each fingertip was ingrained a deep groove, welts imagined and realized in tender flesh, even now still oozing blood in places.

“Dammit, Jim, what the devil have you been doing?” Leonard asked, blinking large hazel eyes up at the other man.

Jim, at least, had the dignity to look quite embarrassed by his wounds.

“It’s nothing, Bones,” he said, cheeks flushed a little pink with embarrassment, which Leonard totally didn’t think was cute.

“To hell it’s nothing, Jim,” Leonard said. “Look, man, I’m a doctor. I’ve gotta know where the hell these wounds have come from, so I know how to treat them and more importantly, whether it’s catching or not.”

“Catching? I’m not diseased,” Jim said, in mounting horror.

“That’s a first,” Leonard said, with a sigh. “Now, are you gonna tell me or not? I am just aching to try out that now Vrillian truth serum I’ve kept on ice for the past three weeks. I tell ya, Jim, it'll have you spilling your deepest darkest secrets, as well as telling me where these wounds came from.”

Jim looked horrified at that.

“Uh, yeah, let’s not go that route, huh?” he asked, hurriedly, unable to meet Leonard’s gaze suddenly.

“I thought you’d say that. Why, what have you got to hide, anyway?” Leonard asked, trying to hide a grin as he passed the dermal regenerator over the pads of Jim’s fingertips.

“They wouldn’t be secrets then, would they?” Jim pointed out, with a grin, watching as the wounds slowly knitted themselves together, until his fingertips were completely healed.

“True,” Leonard conceded, a sudden quick grin pushing dimples into his cheeks. “I’ll find them out soon enough, though, Jim. Now, then, you gonna tell me what the devil you’ve been doing?”

Jim sighed in defeat, shoulders slumping slightly as he did so.

“You’ll laugh,” he said, quietly, casting his gaze to the Sickbay floor as he spoke.

“Try me,” Leonard said, with one arched eyebrow at the captain before him.

“Fine. Come to my quarters later on, and I’ll show you. Promise me you won’t laugh,” Jim repeated again.

“I can’t promise that until I know what’s been happening,” Leonard pointed out.

“Bones,” Jim said, sharply, as he pinned the other man with a sharp glare and a frown.

“Fine. I won’t laugh,” Leonard said, in defeat. “I’ll come by your quarters in about a half hour. It’s my break then, anyway.”

Jim nodded, and walked away from Leonard, casting one embarrassed grin over his shoulder at the still watching doctor.

~~~

“My God, man. You were embarrassed about this?” Leonard asked, as he stared down at the acoustic guitar that adorned Jim’s bed. “Why?”

“It was my New Year’s resolution to learn to play a musical instrument. I chose the acoustic guitar because it seemed romantic,” Jim said, cheeks blazing a flushed and embarrassed red.

“Romantic?” Leonard asked, turning an aghast stare upon Jim.

“You promised not to laugh,” Jim said, almost, but not quite, pouting.

“I’m not laughing,” Leonard said, proving his point by frowning. “Couldn’t you have picked something easier to learn?”

“No. Acoustic guitars are the perfect instrument for performing ballads, or so I was told,” Jim said, unable to meet Leonard’s gaze then. “I wanted to write you a love song, Bones. This seemed the best way to do it.”

“Jim,” Leonard said, a sudden gentleness seeping through his tone. “Jim, look at me.”

Jim glanced up from beneath his eyebrows, bright blue eyes suddenly hopeful.

“You didn’t have to do this, you know. You’ve got me already. I don’t need a love song, darlin’,” Leonard said, with a small smile at the other man.

“But I wanted to,” Jim said, quietly.

“Dammit, Jim, come here,” Leonard said, as he pulled the other man into a hug.

Jim settled himself into the hug gratefully, resting his head against Leonard’s shoulder. He smiled when Leonard pressed a kiss to his cheek gently.

“Listen, there’s one thing I learnt to do when I was back home in Georgia and that was how to play the guitar,” Leonard said, suddenly. “I can teach you how to play, Jim.”

“Yeah?” Jim asked, hopefully. “I didn’t know you could play.”

“These hands are good for more than just healing, you know. I thought you knew that, already,” Leonard replied, a small grin brightening the corners of his mouth suddenly.

“Thanks, Bones. I’d like that, but you're still gonna have to listen to my love song when I’ve written it though,” Jim said, with renewed resolution.

Leonard pretended to huff a long-suffering sigh, yet Jim knew it was all for show. Leonard had a grumpy doctor facade to maintain, after all, even though his heart was kind beneath that facade.

“Fine, Jim. If you must,” he said, trying to frown yet the frown didn’t stick. “And those wounds on your fingertips? They’ll stop when you grow some calluses. Practice and time is all you need.”

“Sounds good to me. When can we start?” Jim asked, as he all but leapt away from Leonard's embrace to pluck the guitar from his bed.

“Tonight. I’ve gotta go back to work. So have you, for that matter, m‘dear. You’re due on the Bridge any minute,” Leonard pointed out, raising his eyebrow at the over-excitable captain.

Jim’s grin didn’t dim in the slightest; instead, he placed the guitar reverently back upon his bed.

“Tonight,” he confirmed, cheerful grin all but shining from his face.

Leonard had no choice but to grin back at him. Jim’s grin was infectious at the best of times, after all.


End file.
